Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Thank you to everyone for the well wishes for both Henry and myself last week. I apologize that things got way off schedule last week.
The day of my surgery Henry was a bit anxious. He didn't exactly know what was going on, but he knew the routine was off. And when the routine is off, that always makes him a tad nervous. Furthermore, he got breakfast and I did not, so that made him even more nervous. All the pugs know that if you don't eat breakfast, something big is going to happen that day and usually not something fun.
So, when we got home from the surgery center, Henry was excited and nervous at the same time to see me. I went straight from the car to bed and Henry almost beat me to bed. He briefly smelled my leg and then plopped himself right next to my leg. And he has been by my side ever since that moment.
Our normal evening routine is that Henry goes for a walk. The length of the walk varies. Sometimes we make it through the neighborhood, sometimes we only walk around the cul-de-sac at the end of our street. And sometimes we only hang out in the driveway. But, weather permitting you can count on us to get some outside time in. Once I was feeling a bit better, I was more mobile around the house, but I had still not been out and about. It was time for Henry to go out for his nighttime walk and in his excited pacing he kept running over to me on the sofa. I kept telling him to have a nice walk and he would run to the door, then he would run back to me. After a few minutes of me not taking the hint, he finally just started barking at me. He wanted met to go on his walk with him and he deemed me well enough to go. Not wanting to disappoint, I got up and hobbled through half of the cul-de-sac walk with him. He was ever so pleased to have me outside with him and kept stopping to check on me to make sure I was keeping up. I really didn't think I was up for that walk, but once I got back home it was the absolute best I had felt since my surgery.
After a few days of rest, I started working again from home. Sitting in a chair has been difficult, since my knee doesn't bend very well. So, I have mainly been working from bed. Henry was pretty happy to hang with me on the bed the first few days because he has just gotten his chemo. So, we were recovering together. But after a few days, Henry deemed it necessary for us to get out of bed and get back more into the normal swing of things. When I was cleaning up lunch, Henry was pacing between the kitchen and my office, clearly making his point that we needed to work the rest of the afternoon in there. Once again, I followed his lead and worked the rest of the afternoon from my office. It felt good to get back to a more normal routine. It also proved that once again, Henry knew what needed to be done and was going to make sure I pushed my own self during my recovery.
Of course I also had plenty of human care during my recovery. All that TLC has me feeling much better now!
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Today marks one week since Henry had his second dose of chemotherapy. Granted his second dose was only 50% of what his normal does would be, but he handled this round of chemotherapy much better than the first.
He was a bit tired on Tuesday, but we sorta expected that. Going to Jacksonville to get the treatment is a big trip for everyone! His appetite for the first few days after treatment was pretty low. But, he did manage to have dinner every night. In the mornings, he wasn't interested in food at all.
Wednesday night we were most nervous because that was the bewitching time after his first chemo treatment. However, this time he was quite spunky. Nothing like what he was the first time around. He went for a small walk and even took a little swim that night. The rest of the week was uneventful (no diarrhea or throwing up) and Henry got stronger and more and more like his normal spunky self with each day that passed.
We are so relieved that round 2 of chemo looked nothing like round 1. Way to be Hank!
#HenryStrong #HenryStrongAllDayLong
Friday, September 19, 2014
As you all know, Henry lost his left eye earlier this year. This has forever knocked his depth perception out of whack. His right eye isn't that hot, though, either. He can sort of see but there is a small cataract on that eye, as well. He is on drops to hopefully help control any potential sudden inflammation that may occur.
What problems his poor eyesight has caused recently, though, is a doozy. He's fallen into the pool twice now. Once was in broad daylight (while we were cutting the grass and he was trying to stay in our vicinity. The other time was just last night. In the dark.
The pattern seems to be that Henry goes onto the pool deck, peers out the door on the far side of the house and then wonders his way over to the other side of the pool deck (where the doggy door and fenced in yard are). As we swaggers from one side to the next, he loses his sense of how close he is to the pool. Especially since at this point the pool would fall on his blindside. Thus, it just takes one misstep and in he goes. :(
Henry used to love the pool but the older he got the less he enjoys it. Benny & Luna never really loved the pool but both of them were at least good swimmers! Henry has never been a good swimmer. But each time he has fallen into the pool he has done what we had always taught the pugs to do. And that lesson was "swim to the step" and it is obvious that he has remembered his training.
The first time he fell in he swam to the step and got out. Then last night he was swimming to the step when we had to jump in and "rescue" him. This raises many red flags for us since Henry now goes potty much more frequently (minus a kidney, meds that make you drink more/pee more) and this includes in the middle of the night. So we are starting to be paranoid that he may fall into the pool overnight and we could sleep through it.
We have come to a resolve about possible solutions and once that has been implemented and tested we will share how it worked out. Until then, we are making sure that he never goes out alone and he may just have to either "hold it" or have an accident in the overnight. His safety is far more important than any dang old potty accident!
For those still not getting the emails.....this is because there have not been any new featured pug photos. Without the photos, there is no email. OBP is working on getting caught up on those. We apologize for having to come find us when we are usually delivered straight to your inbox. We are doing our best and sadly, that is what is giving right now. Thank you for your patience.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
SEVO, or South East Veterinary Oncology, has been the place where Henry has been getting his chemotherapy treatments. It is a very quaint little place. And we wanted to just briefly share some of our observances. Some are simple but some are truly notable.
First, their waiting room is like a trip to the set of Golden Girls. It has a mix between cushiony chairs and ratan accents and very typical white southern plantation style shutters. White wicker rocking chairs and gliders are out on the front porch. And truthfully, it looks very cozy and welcoming. We had mentioned before that they put out a welcome sign to all new/first time patients and that was a very special touch.
The main thing that I kind of wanted to talk about is their memory court. It is a paved circular dog walk area with about 60-70 engraved bricks that are intermingled with the brick pavers making the circular path. The bricks really tell a tale of patients past. I actually photographed each brick on this visit. The first visit I cried my head off reading them all and this visit I was better able to keep it all in perspective but it is still hard.
Here are a few bricks that really hit home to me.
The one that reads: "In memory of Pyewacket LaDue, You got me through! I miss you still" particularly was a tear jerker. The back story on this is that Pyewacket LaDue was the pet of one of the doctors there who herself had breast cancer and was helped by her own dog to help get her through cancer and then in turn, the dog succumbs to cancer later.
I am sure each brick has its own special back story but since we are not privy to them, we cannot speak to the uniqueness they each have to offer. But we are sure that each mentioned pet was truly loved.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Hello OBPers...
This is on behalf of Corrine....
I needed to offer this update since Corrine is recovering from ACL (knee) surgery. She had her torn ACL repaired last Wednesday (from an injury she suffered in May) and she was doing her best to keep everything up to date but the reality is that the OBP house has been a house of cards the last week or so. Corrine has needed this surgery since right before we lost Benny & Luna but with all of that we put it off a bit. We scheduled her surgery, then found out about Henry's cancer. So, it's been a rough summer but we are managing the best we can and the "luxury" of keeping the blogs up has been a little bit spotty. We are very sorry. We are in survival mode this week. Not to mention (but yet, I am mentioning) we have had an extra scoop of to-dos lately. Corrine with her bum knee (on crutches), Henry at chemo AND we have also been catsitting for Grammy who took a quick jaunt to Maryland for a family function. We of course are very happy to return the favor and for all she that she does for us but it just has not left hours in the day to maintain everything that we would like to and we know that this is not a week of blogs that we could "pre-write" so thank you for bearing with us. And this is also why there haven't been emails or featured pug picture updates.
So, I will do my best to catch everyone up and appease the worries out there. 
And, I apologize for no photos linked with this update. I know they help to explain the story. But I don't know how to add photos either. I am so sorry. Corrine is the computer whiz around here. Not me. :(
Anyway, we do have some pretty good news to share. Henry left chemo #2 like a wild man! He was all amped up and gave us some lip and the nurses were even getting a little perturbed but we tried to leave as quickly as possible. That night (Monday) was a good one. Henry ate, took his meds, took a walk, had a chewy and all was right with the world. The next morning (Tuesday) though, had us a little concerned. He took his meds but did not eat. Not until very late in the day and he slept a lot. This was the same pattern as chemo #1 had been so we were getting antsy.
Tuesday night though, he gained an appetite, ate a lot and went for a walk and seemed to be doing well. This morning was a little rocky getting his meds in him and he did not have breakfast but he is seeming to be an evening eater and pug. More like Luna. Less like Baby Benny. He is finding his way as his own man.
Corrine, on the other hand, is suffering a little set back in that she is having a hard time shaking the nausea that comes from surgery and post op meds. But she is a tough cookie too and will get through this. And I am sure she would want to have me reiterate that the blog is never intended to be about the OBP people. It's about the pugs. In this instance, though, I wanted to be sure to give a little background as to why things aren't up to snuff. So, just try to give us some time to catch up and we will continue to do our best. And as always, #HenryStrong #TeamHenry and a #GetWellCorrine today, too. We know that we are not the only ones with life struggles, too. So, please know that whenever we mention a shout out for Henry, we want it represent all of you in your struggles and support for your losses and may Henry just be the poster boy and represent us all in OBPland.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
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